ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 11, 2022
George Ricks, also known as Parson George, was a former slave who became a preacher in Alabama and Mississippi after he was freed. His moment of transformation happened as he listened to Alexander Campbell preach, eventually becoming a well known black preacher in our denomination’s early history. As a free man, he became a farmer, eventually owning 300 acres of land. Some of the land was donated for a church and cemetery. I first learned of Parson George as a kid in Sunday School. What I remember was how he rode a mule between towns where he preached. The two churches he most often preached at were about 100 miles apart. I don’t know how fast a mule goes, but that’s a trip you don’t make by getting up extra early in the morning so you can make it to worship by 10:00am.
As a kid, the story of Parson George was wonderful to learn, though I most definitely read it through very rose-colored glasses. It was probably twenty years after first learning of Parson George that I was reintroduced to his story, but this time I knew a bit more about American history and what happened between 1838 – 1908, the years of his life. I cannot even begin to fathom what it must have been like to go from slave to landowner and preacher in the years immediately following the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, all of it under the threat of the KKK.
So often we tell the stories of the faithful with an emphasis on the successes, while also including the fun stuff and even quirky details. We read some of the interesting elements associated with different individuals in scripture, but in many storylines, there are major gaps. I think of Bathsheba, who was sexually assaulted (though not a concept in the ancient world) by King David. We know her child died shortly after birth, and though we hear a bit more about her, I sort of want to know the story of her pain and grief, and whether she ever learned that King David ordered the death of her husband after David assaulted her? How might people perceive your life if they were only told of a few small happenings, a couple of positive or painful events, but nothing else? How much more is there to your story?
As I read the stories of those who lived the faith in troubling times, O God, let me always remember that no matter how detailed the biography is, there is so much more to who they were and how they lived. Amen.
